Adding to Nashville Class C surface area 'unjustified'

February 6, 2013

ByDan Namowitz

The FAA has proposed to modify Class C airspace at Tennessee’s Nashville International Airport by incorporating airspace previously associated with a now-closed airport, but has cited no justification for doing so, AOPA said. Members are encouraged to review the proposal and submit comments by April 1, as provided below.

The proposal would add to the Class C surface area a semicircle of previously excluded airspace on the northern boundary that had accommodated operations at the former Cornelia Fort Airpark. The airpark ceased operation in 2010.

As proposed, the modification “would restore the Class C surface area to the standard configuration of a (5-nautical mile) radius around Nashville International Airport and would enhance the management of aircraft operations at the airport,” the FAA said in a Federal Register notice.

AOPA is concerned, however, that the FAA’s filing “did not provide ample justification for increasing the size of the Class C surface area,” said Melissa McCaffrey, AOPA senior government analyst.

“To simply take airspace to conform to a ‘standard’ does not seem like the most efficient use of our nation’s airspace—the Class C expansion really should be based on ‘need,’” she said.

Members may comment on the proposal by April 1 online or by mail to U.S. Department of Transportation, Docket Operations, M– 30, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, West Building, Ground Floor, Room W12–140, Washington, DC 20590–0001.Please cite FAA Docket No. FAA–2013–0031 and Airspace Docket No. 12–AWA–7 at the beginning of your comments.